Wednesday, July 30, 2014

This was too long for a tweet, so I
decided to put it here. In the past few days I have found two
articles about the movie Lucy that have been very striking to
me. Most every article, tweet, and FaceBook post about the movie has
said it's terrible, so that part really is not up for debate. Here's
the thing; I've been criticizing theMarySue.com both for it's
#SolidarityIsForWhiteWoman nature and having a definite case of
#LenaDunhamSyndrome. If you're not up on your hash-tag activism, I'll
explain. The first one refers to the idea that mainstream feminism is
only concerned with the problems of middle-to-upper class White
American women. The second is a phrase I coined to describe the
common excuse White writers use for not including people of color in
their work, that being “I don't know any of 'them' so I can't write
'them', address 'their' issues, ask one of 'them' what 'their' life
is like,” etc.

Lucy is drawing a ton of
criticism for its plot, writing, and direction. Thankfully ScarJo has
escaped this criticism, because she is too good for the human race,
and if we displease her she may forsake us for the race of Celestial
Angels from whence she came. Much of the criticism centers around the
films depiction of race, especially when concerned with the origin of
our species. Critics have also had problems with the film's depiction
of humanity's highest evolved form being a blonde White woman (the
vast majority of humanity is not that.) These are interesting talking
points that a female-centric geek blog would do well to focus on,
right? You would think so, but this is the article that The Mary
Sue ran: “Today in Female-Led-Movies-Obviously-Don't-Make-MoneyNews, Lucy Beat out Hercules This Weekend.”

A pretty inoffensive title to a
entirely inoffensive article. The article, written by Victoria
McNally (@vqnerdballs) uses a snarky, sarcastic tone to convey the
idea that even a bad female-led movie can make money. It ends by
saying there's no good financial reason that Hollywood studios aren't
making female-led superhero movies. Both of these points are entirely
valid ones that I agree with. Then I read the article that The
Huffington Post ran about Lucy, and well, it goes like
this: “Lucy: Why I'm Tired of Seeing White People on the BigScreen.”

A provocative title, and one that that
has brought a ton of grief to the author's twitter account (Olivia
Cole, @RantingOwl) begged me to read it. The article describes in
detail the many race-related flaws with Lucy and with the
Hollywood thought process regarding race in general. Ms. Cole is a
White woman, and she manages to deftly communicate many of the same
issues that people of color have been complaining about in regards to
the entertainment industry for decades. As Ms. Cole has acknowledged
on her twitter account, it is sad that these issues are only now
coming to the attention of many White Americans because a White
person has brought them up.

Please understand , I have no problem
with the idea of Ms. McNally's article; my main problem with it is
it's shallow. If you look at most articles published on The Mary
Sue, you will see that many of them are equally shallow,
homogenous, and toothless indictments of pop culture. One would think
that such a site would be more aggressive in getting its point
across, not just for White women but for all women. But that's not
the case. Ms. Cole's article that appeared on The Huffington
Posts's Entertainment site, had far more bite and, in essence,
did far more to expose the issues of all women than any article on
The Mary Sue has to date. If you kept the articles the same
but switched the sites, what effect would it have? There would be
little to no effect on the HuffPo site, but The Mary Sue would
be revolutionized and do much to show that it is a site for all geek
girls of all colors. It is an easy cure; The Mary Sue, if it
is not going to make a concerted effort to have a more inclusive
staff, at the very least would do well to hire more writers like Ms.
Cole.

Monday, July 28, 2014

The #WellActually series I will take a stupid, stupid blog, think piece, news story, study, etc. and riff on it, trying to make sense of the non-nonsensical. If you have a suggestion for a story I need to #WellActually, send it to exit.eleven@gmail.com

So, this happened. It is a blog post from a male (extrapolating from the name Jason,
unless that's now a popular girls name among the
Upper-East-Side/Connecticut Suburbs set) who has taken it upon
himself to manslpain how to be attractive to women. I'm no raging
feminist myself, but I know better than this. I don't go around
telling women how to do their jobs. I have been known to mansplain
things, but I never do it intentionally. If I'm called on it I stop
because honestly I can see how that shit would be annoying. When
someone writes a whole blog post, a man that is, telling women how to
be attractive to men... no pun intended, but that takes balls. So I'm
going to run down these 17 things and let you know if this guy is
full of shit or not (spoiler alert; he is.)

They
are Happier – You know what's always happy? Puppies. Who doesn't
want a woman who has the temperament of a puppy? Wait... in a way
that could kind of be awesome... bu... no. No, no human is always
happy, and if they are they are most likely on the happiest of happy
pills. Real actual humans have ups and downs. It's possible to have
a sunny outlook and a positive demeanor even in the worst of times,
but the writer is definitely describing a puppy, not a grown woman.
He says that all the people he meets at work are “bored” and
“standoffish.” Is that a function of their unattractiveness or
is it the effect you have on people? Think about it.

They Don't Complain About Their
Bodies – Here the writer almost, ALMOST makes a decent point. No
one expects perfection in real life, and striving for it is
fruitless. He's doing so well on this point but then has to add “One
we actually get to hook up with” implying that flawed women are
hot because they're attainable. If the writer had any chance
of hell in landing a “airbrushed model” he'd kick the rest of
you imperfect women to the curb. Lucky for you ladies, he's stuck
chasing the attainable woman.

They Actually Don't Complain Much
Period – Have a bad day? Keep that shit to yourself! It makes you
ugly!The writer makes the classic mistake of thinking that women
talk about their problems to find a solution. It took me years to
figure out that women sometimes solve their problems simply by
conversing about them with others. The act of having someone listen
allows people to vent their emotions on a subject and reflect upon
it rationally. But it also makes you ugly, so don't do it. Bottle up
all that negative emotion and channel it into, I assume, cooking and
cleaning.

They Wear Dresses – I have to
admit, I much prefer dresses on women than anything else, but that's
just that, my preference. I mean, there's a reason women wear
dresses and gowns to fancy events. To assert that this is the only
way a woman can be attractive is asinine. There's no evidence that
pants make a woman ugly. The writer asserts that dresses “make us
look at you like a man is supposed to look at a woman.” Um,
sexually? That's how we are supposed to look at women? Only? Do men
have to look at all women who wear dresses sexually? Because that
could cause a problem at work... any work. This is probably why all
of the writer's coworkers are standoffish.

They Make a Guy Feel Special –
This point is not actually too bad. He at least asserts that making
an effort to impress the other person is a two-way street.

They Are Kind - Who doesn't like
kindness? At this point he is just describing what makes a person a
good person, not what makes someone attractive. He should add to this point "doesn't murder children," because that is also a trait found in good people. Unless, you know, they try to murder you first.

They NEVER Talk About Exes –
Again, this may be a good rule for people in general. Who wants to
hear about their significant others exes all the time? This is
just common sense. However, if there are some real issues that a
woman needs to discuss to be able to maybe move past some stuff in
her past, you as her man should be able to suck it up and listen.
It's idiotic to pretend that your girl is a virgin. That's
delusional, and delusional thinking is not attractive at all sir.

She Let's Me Take the Lead – Ah
here we go, SUBMISSION! No woman should leave home without it. The
writer asserts that being feminine involves deference to his wishes.
I used to date a girl who had no will of her own and I hated it. I
agree that the perfect relationship is one where the two individuals
compliment each other. The writer contradicts himself here though;
he wants a woman who can be her own person, but also defers to him.
Don't be weak! Stand up for yourself! Don't stand up to me! Damn,
being attractive is hard.

She Isn't a Dead Fish in Bed –
Again, this isn't just for women; this is for everyone. Don't suck
in bed, it's a given. And if the man sucks in bed, well, see #3 and #5.

They Aren't Businesslike – Hey I
hear women are working now! That's swell! I am trying to figure out
if this blog was written in 1952. The writer is basically saying
“Hey, it's cool that you work, but don't bring it up to me. Keep
it to yourself along with your hopes, fears, ex-boyfriends, worries,
and personal preferences. Those aren't things I need to know about
you.”

They Cook – Everyone should
cook. A woman who can cook is a plus, but not a necessity, and you
certainly aren't unattractive if you can't cook. Dumb-ass.

She's Encouraging, but Not Bossy –
Going along with the theme of shutting your big trap, the writer
feels that an attractive woman only expresses herself when it is in
support of her man. When the writer talks about his problems, he
doesn't want the woman to offer suggestions or alternatives, he
wants her to just sit and listen to his problems in exactly the way
he is unwilling to do for her. Fascinating. The hypocrisy I mean.
Fascinating. Christ, there's 5 more of these?

They're Athletic – Translation;
No Fat Chicks.

They Drink in Moderation –
Addendum; No DRUNK fat chicks.

They Keep Our Couple Secrets –
OK so the writer doesn't want you talking to him, but he does not
want you talking to your friends and loved ones either. Is he a cult
leader?

She's Close With Her Parents –
No fat chicks, no drunks, and no orphans. Also, apparently being a
single child or from a small family makes you unattractive. So if
you can somehow change that, you should. You know, to be more
attractive.

She Doesn't Take Herself Too
Seriously – OK I have to agree with him on this one. I could never
be with someone who takes herself very seriously. Levity is what
keeps me going. Again, the writer takes it too far, suggesting that
anyone who is “neurotic” is going to make your life “a whole
lot worse.” If you can try and never have had anything bad ever
happen to you, that would be ideal.

So, that's how a woman becomes
attractive. Easy right? No? This guy should go fuck himself? Yeah,
probably. Again, you can see the original article here.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

By now you have probably heard about Anthony Cumia, of “Opie and Anthony” fame. He had a run-in with a woman on the streets of New York that lead to him losing his job on Sirius XM. He states that he was taking pictures of public areas (streets and buildings) and that this woman happened in front of his camera. He says that she attacked him, for no reason of course, and then went on Twitter to call her a “cunt” and a “savage.”

To be sure, supporters of the “Opie and Anthony” show did not use such kind language to describe the woman, who is Black. None of their listeners have in any way expressed sentiments that Cumia did anything inappropriate. This should not be surprising as the show's White, male, 18-34 year old audience has never been known to be sensitive to women or minorities. In this essay I refer to White males as if they are a homogenous entity, but really I think the guys who get it will know who I am speaking of and will recognize whether I am talking about them or not.

Full disclosure; I never liked “Opie and Anthony.” I've never even listened to the show. But I knew the type of people who did listen to the show, and that was all I really needed to know. I have found that you can learn more about a person, group, or institution from the people who support it than from the thing itself. The people who I knew liked that show were overwhelmingly male, White, and sort of, if not outright, racist. Nothing about that demographic made me think “that's a show I need to listen to!”

To be fair, many guests that have been on the show are comedians who I appreciate and am a fan of, most notable Lewis Black, Rich Vos, Patton Oswalt and Patrice O' Neal, the only non-white regular guest the show has ever had. I always thought Jim Norton was a raging racist but, to be honest, it was 90% because of his appearance. He looks like an extra from “American History X.” I watched one of his comedy specials out of curiosity, and much to my surprise I found him to be very funny and not at all racist, at least not in that special. So my method of judging people may not 100% accurate, but most of the time it works. It's anecdotal evidence, not DNA testing. Those of you who know me know that my superpower is Hypocrisy. In my defense the show also has a very good relationship with Donald Trump, who has been vigorously defending Donald Sterling. So, there's that.

The most striking aspect of this event is how victimized Cumia himself feels. Cumia, Trump, and people like them have felt for many years now, oh let's say since President Obama was elected, that their rights to “Free Speech” have been tread on. They feel that society has become too “sensitive” and “politically correct.” They believe that we as a people have become soft and can't take a joke. White men in positions of power are enraged that they cannot get away with saying whatever they want to say. To those men I say, in the words of John Mayer, welcome to the real world. One thing that straight White males have to understand is you do not get to be the Victim and Privileged. Whether you know (or like) it or not, Western society is set up to benefit the straight White male, and as long as that is true that demographic will never be viewed as a sympathetic victim. Not fair? Probably. But again, welcome to the reality that the rest of us have existed in for centuries.

I'm a Black male. Black men have not been able to just say whatever we have wanted since we first met Europeans centuries ago. We have never had much of any type of freedom where Europeans and Americans have been concerned. White men have never had to fear any repercussions to what they say in public unless it was against The Church, but that is a story for another day. European and American men have long believed in the “White Man's Burden”, their right and duty to save and educate the savage heathens and Brown peoples of the Earth. It is now 2014 and White men have a new burden, the burden of Responsibility. This is the burden of having to face the people they speak against or insult, the burden of having to Think before they Act, a burden that all the rest of us have had to deal with for centuries. It is a burden that few White men are prepared to shoulder. Many, many men still have not realized that they have been put in this position, and you can tell by the genuine surprise with which White men receive the news that people are angry at what they have said, and that they are being punished for their words.

Where shall we begin... how about Mel Gibson? He's like the Jay-Z of offensive rants. He has gone off against gays and lesbians, women in general, and then his infamous statement about “a pack of n*ggers.” I never knew that the proper term for a group of n*ggers was a pack. I should thank him for the education. Speaking of “the N word”, Michael Richards. Enough said. Remember Don Imus? He had no idea that women would object to being referred to as nappy headed hoes.” Because that's something that the rest of us regularly say to women we don't know. Eminem throws around the word “fag” like he gets paid for it. There's Donald Sterling, who is still honestly confused as to what he has done wrong in his life (let's go with discriminatory housing practices for that one.). And then we come back to Cumia who, according to comedian Penn Jillette should be compared to Martin Luther King Jr for not using his gun on the unarmed woman who attacked him. He basically said on his podcast “Penn's Sunday School” that a White man not shooting an unarmed Black women should have earned Cumia a Nobel Prize. No Penn, there's no award for that. Not only are we supposed to forgive Cumia, we should applaud him for his restraint. Oh. OK.

Penn also said that he's never seen any evidence that Cumia is racist. This line always kills me. I tell everybody I know that Boston is the most racist city in the Northeast, and inevitably a White person will say “Really? I never noticed.” OF COURSE you didn't notice, you're not the one they are racist against! Penn concludes by saying that the “free market” will decide if Cumia's firing was justified or not, and I believe it already has. The market has spoken, which is why he was fired. It makes better business sense to appease the great majority of people who would spend their time influencing advertisers to drop their support of the show than to keep Cumia and the small but vocal audience he brings in.

The problem that most of these men have is their lack of exposure to people different from them. To Cumia, he was attacked for no reason by a women from a culture that, he believes, has a violence problem (all of these views are available in his twitter feed.) It would never occur to him that as a woman she has experienced a lifetime of street harassment and would be justifiably suspicious and angry of a man taking pictures of her on the street. He would never think that it would not occur to a Black woman to call the police on such a man, because what are the chances that NYPD would take her side in a disagreement with a White man? He would never think that after, well, all of American history a Black women would be less than inclined to give a White man the benefit of the doubt.

And that is the main point that White men in this day and age need to understand; you don't get the benefit of the doubt. Like the rest of us, you as a White male are laboring under the sins of your fathers. No matter what it will be assumed that you are racist, misogynist, homophobic, etc. until proven otherwise. It may suck but the White male in this society has the burden (there's that word again) of proof when it comes to not being seen as a dick. It is almost irrelevant what Cumia's intentions were because of the way it looked. The same way Black men would have to be very cognizant of how they approached White women in the streets for fear of lynching, that's how cognizant you have to be about how you come off. You will never face the level of repercussions for your behavior as many other Americans have had to face, but now there are consequences to your actions. A novel concept I know, but one that you will have to deal with.

There are many White men who get this, and know that there is a level of self-restraint that has to be exercised when expressing one's feelings in public. Some of you reading this may be thinking “what's the point of trying to be sensitive to race and gender if everyone is just going to think I'm a jerk anyway?” Some of you still don't get it. Some of you may be angry and upset by what I'm saying, and feel unduly attacked. To those of you who don't get it, I will say this; every time I encounter White people in any setting I am self-conscious about about being the best example of a Black man I can be so that I don't reinforce stereotypes about My gender and My race. That is a burden I did not ask for, it is one I was born into and you know what? It's exhausting. It is exhausting to have to constantly monitor yourself because your appearance and demeanor may get you rejected, fired, or in some cases killed. It is exhausting. Ask any Indian or Arab person what it's like to be assumed to be a terrorist. Ask any woman what it's like to have to make sure that she doesn't do anything to “invite” men to harass or attack her. Ask any Black woman what it's like to have to measure their words so that they are not viewed as being “angry.” I bet each and every one of them will tell you it's god-damned exhausting. That's the burden the rest of us have been carrying since before we can remember. And now, it is yours as well.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

It is hard to be a patriotic African
American these days. With Team USA playing Belgium later today in the
World Cup, there will be an exciting show of patriotism from
Americans all over the world. My favorite part of this world cup has
been #BlackTwitter showing it's Red, White, and Blue pride. I really
thought I was the only Black person who liked America for a while.
I've been very vociferous about my allegiance and love of my country,
and because of it I've been subject to criticism and mockery, which
has come in two forms.

My girlfriend and I often get into
heated discussions about absolutely nothing. Recently I was espousing
why I have a bit of a loathe-on for Europe, Nutella, and Soccer, not
necessarily in that order. I spoke about why I dislike the French as
a concept, a nation, and a national team, when she made the
observation that on this subject I sound very nationalistic, like a
Republican. This statement angered me greatly for two reasons; 1. I
despise Republicans and 2. she was right. One of the biggest tricks
the Republican party ever pulled was complete and absolute
appropriation of Patriotism. In the 10 years post-9/11 conservatives
all over the country made it seem like if you did not support them
and the “War on Terror”, you were worse than a Communist. To this
day it seems nearly impossible to be proud of the United States
without sounding like a gun-toting toothless redneck, or Ann Coulter.
Worse they blurred the lines between patriotism (pride in one's
country) and nationalism (a belief in the inherent superiority of
one's country over all others.) Patriotism leads to awesome
photoshopped pics of Abraham Lincoln riding a bear with an eagle on
his shoulder. Nationalism leads to World Wars. It's a simple, but
vitally important distinction.

I blame the Democrats for this. Were
they not so spineless as to let conservatives appropriate patriotism
it would not sound so weird when I talk about how rabidly
pro-American I am. Even in my own head when I talk about views that
I’ve held my entire life, it sounds funny. When I talk about how I
love America I feel like Rush Limbaugh has hacked into my thoughts
and is using me as a mouthpiece. It's a terrible feeling because one
should never have to feel like a fat, slimy, conservative radio talk
show host just for loving their country. Being a patriotic Liberal
feels strange because of the company it puts you in. We've grown to
expect a certain amount of xenophobia and flag-waving from
conservatives, but not from a Black Liberal from the suburbs of New
Jersey.

In the last week another phenomenon
has presented itself to me that has made me question my patriotism.
As I've said, watching the World Cup and being on Twitter has been
nothing short of spectacularly entertaining, especially when the USA
is playing. The memes and comments from #BlackTwitter have been
awesome. But another faction has reared it's head lately, a faction
I've seen referred to as #HotepTwitter or The Fun Police. Basically
it's a group of Black people who like to remind us that hey, the US
Government hasn't always been so kind to Black people. Ya know what?
I'm aware, thank you very much. I never try to defend the US because
a lot of what the US has done is indefensible. The very reason I am
here typing this blog is because of kidnapping, rape, torture, and
slavery. However, the reason why I am able to sit here and type, the
reason I can read and write and hold an advanced degree and earn
money and walk around in public with a girlfriend who is not Black is
because of African Americans. The reason why most of us can enjoy and
complain about our #FirstWorldProblems is because of African
Americans. As much as we hate what some Americans have done TO us (as
Black people) we have to love and respect what other Americans
(African Americans) have done FOR us.

I'm patriotic for many reasons, the
first and foremost being that I am as American as it gets. Physically
speaking I am most definitely of African origin, there is no getting
around that fact. And I wouldn't want to honestly; I love being
Black, it's arguably the greatest thing about me. Beyond those
physical traits I am in no way African. For one thing, I can't trace
my lineage to any specific African country (for obvious reasons). I
don't have an African language or culture to investigate and learn
about. Like most African Americans my roots probably go back to West
Africa, but beyond that I cannot say. But I am most definitely
American. I have an American mindset and the American superiority
complex (augmented by my NJ superiority complex, I'm damned near
insufferable.) I am overly proud of where I come from. I'm what the
terrorists hate about us. I love excess and dreaming big and shooting
for the stars and every other cliché you can think of. I am
consumerist and love money and things and freedom of speech. I read
the Bill of Rights and the Constitution for fun. As Denis Leary said
I love football and porno and books about war. I like girls in
bikinis and action movies were there are more bullets fired than
words spoken. I HATE NUTELLA. I like violent cartoons. I like muscle
cars that have 400 hp and get 15 miles to the gallon. I like engines
the size of a 1 bedroom ranch house. I do not truck with the metric
system. I buy most of my shirts from Wal-Mart and, for the most part,
I don't care about soccer. FOOTBALL is FOOTBALL and futbol is soccer.
That's the way God and Man intended it to be. I am American. I am a
proud resident of New Jersey, and for me to try to claim otherwise
would be fraudulent.

I believe to be Black in America and
to distance yourself from that is an insult to the generations of
Black people who fought and died for all we have today. Our ancestors
did all they could to make sure that their children would have a
better life than they did. The reason you as an African American can
voice your opinion and have the freedom to leave the country if you
want to is because of Black people. We built this country and today
every single one of us, from Barack Obama to Lil Wayne benefit from
this. Our blood, sweat, and tears are intractably enmeshed in the
colors of our flag. I feel that to disavow what America means to me
is spitting in the face of every Black person that died to make this
country better for Black people. We've fought in every war this
country has been in. We have been a part of every branch of
government (that bastard Clarence Thomas, unfortunately, counts.)
There would be no American culture if it wasn't for us. As much
prejudice and discrimination as we face, this is still our country,
and that only serves to remind me that this American Experiment is
not done, and that this generation needs to do its part to make this
a better country for Blacks just as my parents and grandparents did.
It's a flawed, bloody, dirty, excessive, racist, prideful, sinful
country, but it IS our country. We fought for so long to be
recognized as citizens, and now some Black people want to reject this
gift that we've been given. What a slap in the face of those who went
before us. So yes, today I Believe That We Will Win. Because I'm a
proud 'Merican and that's what we do.

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About Me

Exit Eleven refers to the Exit off of the NJ Turnpike of which I have lived most of my life (I have lived off of Exits 10 and 9 for a few years) but most of my life I've lived off of Exit 11. It's a Jersey thing, some people are proud of and some people despise it, but we all know what exit we live off of. It is sort of ingrained in our DNA. I happen to be proud of it, and my state. That's why I named my Blog after it.

Exit 11 is mostly reader driven, meaning I write about what people around me want to read about at the time, or what is going on in my life at the time. Other times I just write about whatever is going on socially. Hopefully it's funny, but it's always relevant. Mostly.

I'm just a normal guy who has an opinion about absolutely everything under the sun. I am a combination Writer/Psychologist, which gives me a unique perspective on life, the universe, and everything. My two favorite subjects are Love and Race, but I cover everything eventually.